14. Tortuga
Arrival Having delivered the dragon hides to Clay, the party arrived at Tortuga's docks just as the sun was setting. Street urchins ran about, lighting lanterns about the place as the crew of the Drunken Dragon headed up the docks. A triton woman called out to Malak in Aquan - Wilfred was the only other member of the party who knew the language and was thus privy to the conversation. The pair quickly noted the difference in their accents, with the woman calling Malak a 'city boy that was a long way from home,' and him noting that she was a likely a shoal triton. She'd stopped him to ask if he wanted to join her crew, and when he politely refused she switched to common and addressed the rest of the men in the party, asking if any of them were interested in sailing with her. Vic tried to puzzle out what this woman's deal was but all she learned was that her ship had plenty of women but no men for them to set sail without angering the sea, and that she thought Vic was 'quite precious' and apparently had a friend who would love her. Cataleya and Bigly The group hastily left the woman, whose attention had shifted to asking other passers-by when it was clear none of the party were interested in taking her up on her offer. However, it wasn't long before more strange people stopped the six of them. This time is was a human woman in functional leather armour, a plethora of daggers at her belt, notably being accompanied by a hulking, green-skinned troll, complete with long, drooping arms, hooked nose, and an ugly slab of metal that was slung on its back trying to pass itself off as a sword. Both of them had been led by a small urchin child, who ran away after pointing out the party to the duo. The woman introduced herself as Cataleya, and the troll said he was called Bigly. The pair said they worked for a powerful figure in Tortuga known only as the Proprietor. Their employer had an interest in the party, and as such had sent the duo to extend his hospitality in helping them get acquainted with life on the turtle. They offered a tour of the immediate area, which the party decided to accept after a little hesitance. Cataleya flagged down an urchin and summoned some rickshaws for them all to travel in; teenagers ran at the front of the vehicles, swapping at indiscernible checkpoints with others so that they could keep the vehicles moving quickly. Bigly ran in loping steps beside them, not seeming to break a sweat over the hours of travel. The party were taken beyond the docks and shipyard of Tortuga's mile-long front-left fin, through the Warehouse District beyond it, and into the Sinner Side, a long strip of a district that housed a large casino, a staging arena known as the Garden of Sand, and the Obsidian Villa, a building where the majority of the Proprietor's business arrangements were conducted. Cataleya explained that her boss effectively controlled all three of these districts they had been shown, as well as some other places around Tortuga. He was a businessman so influential he'd come to be known as one of the 'Shell Lords' by some on the turtle. When pressed, Cataleya reluctantly explained that the term was pretty loose and could apply to a few different people depending on who you asked: Lady Rouge and the Crooked Warden - wrangler the city's urchins - were certainly Shell lords, as was her boss, but a particular halfling in the Small Quarter was known as the 'Lord of the Small' only to some, and a dwarven master craftsman in the Iron Quarter had similarly disputed Lord status - the latter's position was further in question because many believe him to be a tacit extension of Pirate Lord Svavil's will onto the turtle, where the pirate lords are only supposed to have limited influence. Next they were taken through the Pleasure Quarter. Cataleya pointed out a number of night houses with good reputations: Mon Repose, ran by a man by the name of Master Monday, and the Foreign Fragrance, headed by a woman called Argent au Ville. Their tour guide also pointed out the Morendo, a music hall owned by the Proprietor. The cover charge and prices were apparently kept high to encourage a certain kind of clientele in the establishment, but skilled musicians were often able to earn themselves membership, which then waved a great deal of the fees for them. Heading further through the Pleasure Quarter, they passed into an area of town that had come to be referred to as Riverside, the area controlled by Lady Rouge. The central attractions were the Red Velvet, the lady's enormous mansion, hotel, and brothel, and the six storey bathhouse she ran. Cataleya had the rickshaw pass through Tortuga's Kitchen, a pair of long streets that were lined with impressive buildings, all of which were restaurants said to be some of the finest you'd ever find. Cataleya made a point to explain that some of the restaurants even used sultan's sugar, a rare and expensive spice from the Six Sultanates. The entire time they travelled through this beautiful, wealthy part of town, the observant members of the party saw that there were just as many urchins around as before; they merely keep to the alleys, rooftops, and shadows in this place, rather than soliciting work on the streets as they had in the Proprietor's districts. For the final part of their little tour, Cataleya had the rickshaw loop around and head back towards the border between Riverside and the rest of the Pleasure Quarter, to a set of five narrow alleys lined with tiny bars and crowded streets, a place called Bronze Boy. She left Bigly with the party, telling him to enjoy himself and not to hurt them unless they start anything. He was also to bring them to meet Kind in the morning, the party having agreed to accept the Proprietor's offer to facilitate meetings between the group and some influential people on the turtle who were interested in speaking to them. Lady Luck In Bronze Boy, the group first headed to a small establishment called Bar Bistro Pavo on Cataleya's recommendation - the owner had racked up a great deal of debt in the Proprietor's casino and was very amenable to his workforce as a result. She had been right. Pavo the owner bent over backwards to meet the requests of Bigly and his 'friends'. The party also bore witness to the troll dunking a live chicken in a rain barrel full of wine then, in truly bizarre fashion, squeezing the wine off the chicken into his mouth. That aside, they had a pretty good time drinking for free in the nervous Pavo's bar. They decided they should do a bit of a crawl though, and so headed out, used some of the cut-through lanes to get to another of the five alleys, and then tried to get into Bar ZO NO NO. The door barely opened, and Bigly stuck his head inside to see the small, three-tiered room was completely rammed with customers. One of the two half-elves behind the bar shouted 'NOOO!' and waved them on. With that place too full, they wandered around for a moment before deciding to duck into a place called Bar Albatross. Inside, the bar counter bent around a corner, covering two of the square room's four walls. Eight stools were spaced around it. There was no bartender in sight. Only a lone woman was inside, sat on the customer side of the bar, drinking from a rum bottle and playing with a deck of cards. The party plus Bigly entered, and the woman told them she had recently won the establishment but wasn't sure what she would do with it - she wasn't all too keen on keeping it in any case. She told them to help themselves to drinks for the time being. The group greedily did so. Pyt moved up beside the woman to get a look at what she was doing with the cards and to ask her a few questions. She quickly sprung a game on him, asking if he knew Gal's Gambit, and then explaining the rules and apparently some of the history of the game as they played. A special deck of cards was used, and the woman had a wooden box that kept requisite three piles of cards neatly separated. Evoking the decks of a ship, there was an 'upper deck,' comprised of cards numbered 1 to 8; a 'middle deck,' with numbers 1 to 6; and a 'lower deck,' with numbers 1 to 4. A standard hand involved taking one of each pile, betting between draws, and the highest total won in the end. As they played, the woman explained that around the Scorching Sea, where the game was first played, women were regarded as so lucky that they had been banned from gambling establishments for a time. The solution was to allow people to replace any of their draws with a draw from one of the lower decks instead, and to effectively enforce that women don't ever draw from the high deck at the very least. Pyt asked the woman's name and she smiled wryly. She offered to bet the information, with names being the powerful things that they are, after all. In kind, Pyt put some money on the table. The woman took her card from the lowest deck after Pyt had drawn from the upper one. Not to be shown up, Pyt next drew from the lowest deck, and before the woman drew her second, she offered to sweeten the stakes, since the game was typically played with betting at every stage. She offered free drinks from her bar for the rest of the night in exchange for an explanation of the circumstances that had led Pyt to being in the company of the newest Pirate Lord, together with a gnome that was apparently the Hellchild's apprentice and the child that had defended Driscoll's back as he helmed his ship through a fleet of one hundred foes. When he agreed, she again took her card from the lowest deck. Others in the party were at this point watching the suspicious woman like a hawk, but could not see any funny business going on. When it was time for the final draw, the woman offered the bar itself in exchange for the ornate folding boat that was swinging on full display from Malak's belt. Pyt considered it, but ultimately declined, not wishing to risk the party's only vessel in this quick hand of cards. The woman was obviously disappointed. She again took from the lowest deck while Pyt drew from the middle, in the end giving himself a regular hand. When it came time to show, Pyt had a total of 15 - he was the clear victor then, since she had only drawn from the lowest deck. She smiled and called him a 'lucky boy' as she revealed a hand of three 4s. With the game done and the woman decidedly less interested in the group, she picked up a large zweihänder sword resting in its scabbard in the corner of the room before making her leave. At the door, she stopped to fulfil her losing side of the bet, saying her name was Ingela, but people had recently taken to calling her Lady Luck. Hearing this and remembering what Quinn had told them about this woman, Malak rushed out after her into the nighttime rain. He told Ingela about their mutual acquaintance but it seemed this woman didn't have as amicable a relationship with her old captain as the party had perhaps been led to believe. Ingela had wanted some particular things from her time aboard Quinn's ship, and when she got them she had left. When asked, she told Malak she was in Tortuga for the same reason everyone else was right then. His party and Driscoll had completely destroyed the status quo of the world, and everyone was gathering to watch what was going to happen next. Ingela did ask Malak if they'd seen the end of the ocean in Driscoll's territory, and was again disappointed in them when he said he didn't know what she was talking about. She turned and walked away, disappearing into the night. The Fey Malak returned to the bar and the party plus Bigly got shit faced with all the booze they'd apparently won in the card game. As the night pressed on, Pyt passed out in his deep intoxication. Bigly seemed fine. The rest of the group drank a little more, then got their hammocks out the Drunken Dragon's box and strung them up in the little bar. Pyt remembered: A bar in a space between spaces. A cat with two tails. And a man that defied explanation: a giant but the size of a human. '' ''The words came again: 'choose a side, you brat.' Sound should choose a side. A place where land and sea were flipped, where grass and hills of verdant green rolled as far as the eye could see, dotted in places by pools of crystalline water. '' ''A tiny figure with blue skin and sweeping hair hopped from foot to foot, impatient. 'Pick a side,' it squeaked and grumbled, crossing its arms to point in opposite directions, one towards the rising run and one away from it. '' ''Walking. For so much time, they walked. The blue creature would rush ahead, faster than a little thing has any right to move. It would suddenly turn, tut, rush back, and beckon he hurry. This went on for a long time, and all the while the day didn't do what it was supposed to. '' ''The sun sunk lazily, seemingly remiss to disappear. They walked for a week before it was dusk and another before it was night. Who knows how long it was before they stood before her. '' ''A woman of bewitching glamour. As tall as the tallest giant, but then suddenly his own size, so she could look him in the eye. Her skin was white. Not pale or pallid, but the purest, softest white. Her hair was just the same, cascading down her back to her waist. Blood red lips betrayed no emotion. Her deep green eyes though, they carried the weight of worlds in their unfathomable depths. There was age in them, age that defied her looks - an age that was scarcely knowable. And there was sorrow, and fear, and longing. But he knew when he saw it. He knew those weren't her feelings but his own. His feelings reflected in those terrifying, verdant eyes. '' ''She spoke softly. 'Will you fight for me, Child of Sound?' And all his feelings were on display before him, reflected in her gaze, as he puzzled for an answer. For this was Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, the Monarch of the Gloaming Court, Mistress of the Unseely, Lady of the Setting Sun. '' ''One of the two great rulers of this land of Faerie. '' '' '' Kind The next day, the party grabbed some breakfast from the Pleasure Quarter's pop-up morning restaurants, which featured food from around the world. Vic arranged for a rickshaw to pick them up, and learned about some of the power dynamics of the urchins in doing so: most of the children younger than her had scattered when she approached, and the two she caught loosened up noticeably when she mentioned she wasn't a Tortuga local. The rickshaw came quickly but then struggled with the weight of the six of them, charging them double for the inconvenience. They were eventually brought before the Obsidian Villa. The doors opened to a large lobby, where Cataleya was waiting. She told Bigly he was late but resigned herself to handling it, reluctantly. Then she led them to a large set of stairs that wound both up and, curiously, downwards, below the surface of Tortuga's shell. They'd obviously carved at the stone-like shell to suit their needs. Going down two floors, Cataleya spoke quickly and quietly. She told the party not to be glib and to curb any of their rude impulses while meeting with Kind, the Proprietor's right-hand. Kind was the person that carried out the Proprietor's will. He was as close as people got to the shadowy Shell Lord himself, and Kind was not known to make threats. If he was displeased with people, he'd simply kill them. Catayela wasn't keen to be killed this early in the morning. The group were sat in a receiving room and eventually met by the bronze-scaled dragonborn, Kind. He sat opposite them and explained the Proprietor's interest in the group. They'd arrived on Tortuga after throwing the world into a stir, and they remained an unknown quantity. As a business man and influential figure on the turtle, it was in the Proprietor's interests to acquaint himself with the party and to facilitate some meetings between them and those on Tortuga who were interested in speaking with them. To this end, they'd been brought before Kind first. From here, if they were so inclined, they'd be taken to speak with Lady Rouge, with a Rumidian operative on Tortuga, and with their comrade under Driscoll's flag, Badger. Forces allied with Shandy and Svavil had also expressed interest in speaking with them, but the Proprietor was not inclined to facilitate these meetings, Kind explained - the Proprietor believed no good would come of them. The party were, of course, free to make their own arrangements. The dragonborn left as suddenly as he'd entered and Cataleya led the group out the Obsidian Villa, picking up Bigly on the way. The party agreed that they'd go along with these arranged meetings for the time being, though some of their number were growing sceptical of the whole experience. They travelled by rickshaw to Riverside, and to the doors of the Red Velvet, Lady Rouge's home. Their duo of escorts waited outside. Lady Rouge The inside of the Red Velvet was a beautiful display of reds, golds, and greens. A long corridor with doors on each side led on to a lounge with a high ceiling, a large number of sofas, and a central bar staffed by a well-dressed half-orc. All the workers in the building had ribbons tied in bows on their wrists, different colours for different roles. A great many well-to-do clients filled the lounge, chatting away with red-ribboned workers. A dark skinned, curly haired human woman in the corner had a small crowd of workers around her, all of them laughing at some unheard joke. The party let the bartender know they were there to see Rouge, and after a short wait with drinks provided - some of the party partaking in Frostflow Silvers or having the bartender improvise - she came out to greet them herself. She was a human woman in her late 50s, beautiful in her age. She was clad in her namesake colour, in a dress that flowed from high on her neck to the floor, covering her arms in full on the way. She led them to a private chamber where lounge chairs had been arranged in a circle. Then, after taking any more requests for refreshments, they began their discussion. Lady Rouge explained that she was not powerful in the sense that pirates of the seas were likely accustomed to. She had no significant strength of arm and no spells on her lips. She was aged now as well. If the party so desired, they could surely kill her in that moment, she said. What she had was modest wealth and the respect of a great number of people she'd done business with over the years. This was respect she'd fostered by being earnest and forthright in her intentions. At this point, as if to demonstrate the truth of her words, she offered to answer any of the questions the party surely had about Tortuga and her. When asked, she explained that she came into the ownership of a night house in her late twenties, having working the night for many years before that. At the time, she'd been concerned only with protecting her boys and girls, but people had responded to her respectful approach to business and she soon found success. She incorporated more night houses into her fold, and eventually built the Red Velvet as Tortuga's premier establishment for revelry and companionship. At that point, it wasn't such a great leap to open the bath house, and, before she knew it, she was in charge of this Riverside district as a whole. Her intentions, she said, had remained the same since the beginning though. She wanted first and foremost to look after those who looked up to and relied on her. The principle difference was that she had far more boys and girls now than when she started. Next, the party asked about her relationship with her rivals in the Pleasure Quarter. Rouge explained that she thought they were all good for each other. Their establishments were better able to draw people of the inclination to this part of town by being clustered together in the manner they were. She feared her rivals likely didn't feel the same though, since she tended to be more successful than they were. In fact, she thought they would probably see her dead if they thought it would help their businesses. The conversation shifted to Lady Rouge's thoughts of the other Shell Lords. Her opinion of the Proprietor was that he was a shrewd businessman, though his methods was a little more grizzly than her own. She was asked if she thought Kind was fully loyal to him and explained that there are many who think the dragonborn is himself the Proprietor, being the only face those who do dealings with Lord can ever hope to meet. Lady Rouge didn't see what such a deception would aid though. Ultimately, she thought it likely that Kind was a loyal employee of the Proprietor. She went on to express her dislike of the Crooked Warden. He ran the shadows of the turtle, wrangling the urchins of the Pieces and governing a network of messengers and eyes all over the city. His practices and manner were distasteful to Rouge, such that she had never felt the inclination to meet with the 'creature', but even she couldn't deny how he'd managed to make his services indispensable to Tortuga at this point. His children lit the streets at night, cleaned up bodies and mess, ran messages, operated the rickshaws, and, perhaps most importantly to Rouge, were the eyes and ears through which the Crooked Warden learned near everything that was happening on the turtle. For the right price, others could be privy to this information network as well. Lady Rouge gave them the courtesy of informing them that the Warden's eyes were firmly trained on their movements, and had been since their ship had first appeared on the horizon. The party decided to broach what had felt like a delicate topic since they arrived on the turtle: they asked why there was so much interest in them. Rouge said she could not speak for the others, but to her what was always most important was the fostering of the right sort of relationships. Tortuga was currently a storm, and they were the centre of the maelstrom - an unknown force that had emerged from nowhere and allied with Driscoll, fighting off one hundred of Shandy's ships while the world watched. It was in Rouge's interest to extend some courtesy, such that she might at the very least gain some new clientele, but perhaps, if the future was so inclined, to also foster the beginnings of a working relationship between them. At this point, the party were sated. They said that Rouge should ask them what she wanted to. She firstly asked what Driscoll currently wanted on Tortuga and why he'd sent them to the island. They politely declined to answer. Next, she asked if they trusted Driscoll, and they again danced around giving a clear answer. She asked if they were going to all the meetings the Proprietor had arranged and was interested to hear that they had agreed to do so. Lastly, she asked how long they planned on being on the turtle for and they said they were unsure. Wilfred and Pyt apologised for their necessary vagueness, but Rouge was content with the answers they'd given. She said they'd revealed plenty to her in what they said. As she concluded their meeting, she told them that their ally, Badger, had been a guest of hers for most of the last month and that she could send someone to see if he wanted to speak with them if they wished. They thanked the woman again and awaited their escort, who eventually arrived and took them up to the room Badger was staying in. Badger A porter opened the door to a large suite dominated by a four poster bed. Some half-touched breakfast remained on a tray at its side, with a few wine bottles of varying types dotted around the place. Badger was in bed, and he greeted the group heartily, beckoning them to come in. He asked how they were doing and inquired after Starth, mostly getting curt responses from the party in turn, largely because of this ridiculous venue for their meeting and the man's general lax attitude. Badger said he was busy working on what Driscoll had sent him to do, which prompted Clark to ask for clarification, betraying that the party didn't know what he was talking about. Badger switched gears. He asked them what info they had and why Driscoll had sent them to the turtle. The party stumbled over answers for a while, with Vic and Clwyd eventually saying that they just happened to come to Tortuga after delivering the dragon hides to Clay in the island's wake. The whole conversation had an unmistakable air of tension. Badger said that he was busy arranging for a parley in the hopes of bolstering Driscoll's ranks, but for the time being, he wanted to extend his bed rest long into the afternoon - Lady Rouge's establishment apparently proved to be the perfect fortress for those with adequate coin and he was enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. The party left him, meeting up with Cataleya and Bigly outside. Alejandro The group were taken to the bulging cliff of Tortuga's back, where the shell of the zaratan rose up over two-hundred feet. Steps had been carved into the shell that allowed them to climb up. From the top, they saw the Pleasure Quarter extended out below them, the slow river that carved the island turtle roughly in two, and a forest of intricately pruned trees in the distance on top of the Ridge. Along the way, Bigly had asked if the party wanted to go to a cock fight that evening, much to the annoyance of Cataleya. They were led to a single-storey wooden hut. Cataleya took her leave as soon as she'd shown them there, all too eager to finish this job and get some rest. Bigly decided to stick around, keen to hang out with the group afterwards. The seven of them headed inside the building and opened the first door they came across, revealing a room mostly filled by a table, six seats on one side and a middle-aged human man on the other, armed, armoured, and facing them. Wilfred recognised the White Hunter of Rumidia, and he quickly introduced himself as Alejandro au Garcias, special interests operative for the Rumidian Empire. He thanked them for coming to see him today and beckoned that they sit down. Alejandro told them that his methods were atypical for Rumidians. He disliked the dancing around words that dominated the court. Instead of that kind of approach, he asked them outright how much they trusted Eight Finger Driscoll. The party hedged their answers. Alejandro told them that the Rumidian Empire views Driscoll as a loose cannon, bad for the stability the world craves. And he felt like the party, as the unknown ammo loaded in that cannon, were in a perfect position to put an end to him. If they did this, he would see to it that their activities as privateers were sanctioned by the Rumidian Court, such that they could serve as deterrents to other pirates by carrying on much as they would anyway, but with the full backing of the Empire - at the cost of some of their loyalty and a percentage of plunder, of course. The party, through Pyt, minced no words in telling the Rumidian what they thought of his offer. He sighed, and remarked that if the carrot wouldn't work on its own then perhaps some stick would help. He produced a scroll and pinned it to the table with a dagger. It was a bounty poster for one Wilfred Seabottom, wanted on charges of the illegal extradition of Rumidian Circle secrets, failure to comply with mage protocol, and forgery on registration. Naturally, the party were shocked. Alejandro explained that the mage hunters were looking for Wilfred as they spoke, and he was now in a position to tell them exactly where Seabottom was. The group demanded to know what his plan was at the very least, thinking the entire conversation unreasonable. Alejandro wondered aloud how little they truly knew. Had they not wondered why Shandy had carved out her territory in a place where the sun struggles to shine, how she had not withered in age after hundreds of years, or how she had such powers to befuddle the mind as all the rumours say? Mother Shandy was a vampire. And as such, she was bound by laws of forbiddance that would prevent her from crossing certain thresholds without invitation. Driscoll and his crew had gone to painful lengths to ensure that their flagship was considered their home - they slept on it and spent as much time there as they could, and they were careful with who they lead aboard. But the party had been the first outsiders to be invited on it, and they had fought directly for the ship's sake, no less. They could potentially manoeuvre themselves such that they were accepted on the ship and then they simply had to invite Shandy aboard. This alone, Alejandro believed, would be enough to ensure the destruction of Eight Finger Driscoll. Pyt began to bargain for time to consider the offer when Alejandro cut him off. He gave them two days before he would inform the mage hunters where Wilfred Seabottom was. They were to choose by then. After this, he had them leave. The Deal The party left the wooden building, somewhat shook from dealing with Alejandro. They weren't quite sure what to do, but Bigly suggested they just go to the cock fighting for the time being. He led them down from the Ridge and they travelled by rickshaw back to the Sinner Side, to the Garden of Sand. They were admitted for free thanks to Bigly, and the troll was also able to muscle them some great seats right at the front after descending the stairs that led down into the huge, colosseum-like pit carved into the turtle's shell. The centre of the pit was filled with sand, obviously the stage for the various fights and other shows this place housed. The event was brutal, with riled up cocks slashing and stabbing at each other with reckless abandon. Blood constantly splattered onto the ground, only to be covered by a fresh sprinkling of sand. Bigly was transfixed the entire time, and the crowd too were loving the display. A lot of money was changing hands in the building and the party joined in on occasion, particularly with the main event, featuring a pure black cock that had been raised by some of the Crooked Warden's children and a golden rooster apparently raised by one of 'Lady Luck's lot.' The handler for the golden cock turned out to be a stoic, brown-skinned halfing, who didn't seem altogether that bothered when her chicken was eventually destroyed by the Warden's black cock. With the night still young, the party and Bigly headed back to the Pleasure Quarter and to Bronze Boy. Bar Albatross had been boarded up and locked since that morning but Bigly tore it open without difficulty. Clark used his ''mending spell to fix the wound to the door frame the troll had made. The inside of Bar Albatross had been gutted, though Wilfred did find one bottle of wine that had been missed. Some of the group went to Bar ZO NO NO to grab some more booze, this time able to get in, though only just. They were served by the male of a brother-sister pair of half-elves, and they picked up a bottle of rum for 50gp before heading back to Bar Albatross, where Pyt had by this time set up his drum-yurt. Bigly was unable to fit in the hut and at some point disappeared from the bar while the party were busy inside. In the confines of the hut's magical walls, the party passed around their alcohol and frantically picked apart all the information they'd come across. Tortuga, it seemed, was hardly a neutral space at all. It was full of political forces vying for power in one way or another, and a great many of them had not only heard of the party but were taking an active interest in them. They were being watched everywhere they went on the island, and in two days, unless they agreed to sell out Driscoll - which they seemed to agree they did not want to do - they would also have to deal with the attention of Rumidian mage hunters. They didn't know who they could trust, but they felt more and more like they needed to leave the turtle as soon as possible, mission to hunt Driscoll's traitor be damned. They didn't agree on a great deal beyond this, but felt like beseeching the help of the Proprietor tomorrow would be the best first step they could take. In the morning, Clwyd disguised Wilfred as a goblin and the group travelled by rickshaw to the Obsidian Villa. They requested a meeting with Kind and after a long wait were admitted to the receiving room two floors below the surface. Kind eventually emerged from the double doors beyond and sat before the party again. He listened as they explained they wanted to take the eyes of the island, particularly the Rumidian eyes, off of them. Kind regarded them for a moment and then said he believed they could come to an agreement. He explained that hiding Wilfred from scrying was an easy enough task for him and that they could provide asylum in the Sinner Side for extended periods of time. This wasn't wholly agreeable, and Wilfred himself asked whether there was any possibility of him getting the nondetection spell to hide from scrying through his own power. This changed Kind's understanding of the proposal. Whereas before it was a matter of providing a service, now Wilfred was asking to take knowledge and secrets valuable to the Proprietor and his business operations for himself. This would cost more, and would also not tackle the problem of the Crooked Warden's eyes as the asylum he offered would. Still, Wilfred pressed the request. Kind explained what the party would owe in return. They would be the stars of a show in the Garden of Sand. The Proprietor would make a great deal of money from it while also getting the measure of their abilities. This show would consist of them fighting to the death with waves of various creatures - true blood sport. Rumidians could and would be kept away from this event with little difficulty. This was the price of the initial proposal. However, for the spell to be provided for Wilfred, the party would also have to provide a service for Lady Rouge. The Proprietor had learned that the operations of her bath house were currently limited, and as a general rule, the image of incompetence in any form does not suit her business model. They would to carry out the tasks necessary to return the bath house to working order, and they would do this in the name of the Proprietor. Favours owed from Rouge were a valuable currency to him. After brief discussion, the party agreed to this. Kind wrote out a Sylvan oath and had both Pyt and Wilfred willingly speak it. It forbade them from disclosing the events of the meeting at any point and ensured they would stick to their word and complete the tasks as agreed. Pyt and Wilfred were also bound in the oath to do their utmost to destroy any of the party - those that couldn't speak Sylvan to swear the oath themselves - in the event that they violated these rules of contract. After this, they returned to the Villa's entrance lobby while Kind prepared a copy of the nondetection spell for Wilfred. While they waited, some of the group made a quick trip to the shipyard to see about repairing the Drunken Dragon. From a lively pair of human brothers, Hank and Eric, they learned that the damage to the ship was severe. It would take 1000gp and around a month and a half to repair. Having neither the time nor the gold right then, they thanked the brothers for the appraisal and returned to the Obsidian Villa. The Baths Pyt and Malak then decided to scope out Lady Rouge's bath house while Wilfred was copying the new spell over to his spellbook. They went by rickshaw to Riverside and the bath house. Inside, the front of house told them that the top three floors of the bath house were booked out for private events for the foreseeable future, a consequence of Tortuga being as busy as it was lately. However, the baths on the first two floors were readily available as normal. The pair opted for a deal that let them bathe in both the baths and enjoy some time in the reading room afterwards, where they requested a book on the history of the bath house. Pyt messed with Malak the entire time. When they left it was getting dark in Riverside and the Warden's urchins were running about illuminating the place. A small procession of people were making their way towards the Red Velvet and Malak and Pyt stuck around to see everyone heading in. A great many notable pirates were heading there, some with parts of their crews in tow, some on their own: 'Wicked' Nix, the ostensible one man army; William 'Hells' Bells, the biggest half-orc they'd ever seen; Itz, the Queen of Snakes; and Hot Eye, the ever-smirking half-elf. Most recognisable to Malak and Pyt were a group of six women. There was the triton who they'd encountered at the docks on their first day in Tortuga, the halfling with bandaged knuckles who had been the handler for a golden chicken during the cock fights the night before, and curly-haired human who had been surrounded by workers in the Red Velvet during the party's visit, as well as a snow-white tiefling and a human clad in a black dress who they didn't recognise. At the small group's head was a woman the two of them readily remembered: Lady Luck, Ingela de Beri. All of these pirates were heading into the Red Velvet for the parley Badger had arranged. Category:Part Two